


road tested

by t_fic (topaz), topaz, topaz119 (topaz)



Series: you need a rock not a rolling stone [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Community: picfor1000, Community: trope_bingo, Established Relationship, F/M, Kid Fic, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-14
Updated: 2014-02-14
Packaged: 2018-01-12 07:42:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1183681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/topaz/pseuds/t_fic, https://archiveofourown.org/users/topaz/pseuds/topaz, https://archiveofourown.org/users/topaz/pseuds/topaz119
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint’s got that closed-down look in his eyes again. Darcy’s been hoping it’d go away on its own but obviously that’s a no-go.</p>
            </blockquote>





	road tested

**Author's Note:**

> Written for my [](http://picfor1000.livejournal.com/profile)[**picfor1000**](http://picfor1000.livejournal.com/) prompt, which is [here](http://www.flickr.com/photos/10707024@N04/5425876685/). And I doubled up and took on the _marriage_ square on my [](http://trope-bingo.dreamwidth.org/profile)[](http://trope-bingo.dreamwidth.org/)**trope_bingo** card, too.

“Wait, wait, pull over,” Darcy says, craning her neck to see the _awesome_ sign flashing by.

“What?” Clint wrenches the steering wheel and gets them off the road in no time flat, yay for ninja driving skills. “What’s wrong? Is it the baby?”

“No, no; she’s fine--but _look_ at that!” Darcy points to the top of the restaurant, where a giant rabbit is holding a burger that is apparently the ‘Pride of the Tri-Counties.’ Clint’s looking between the sign and Darcy in disbelief, so she adds, “Seriously, Steve would never forgive you for skipping it. It would break that beautiful food bromance you’ve got going. And that would be sad.”

Clint puts his head down on steering wheel and breathes in that deliberate, uber-calming, sniper rhythm. He’s fifteen kinds of nervous about the whole pregnancy thing, which is pretty adorable. If Darcy’s being honest, it’s the best part about being a baby-making-factory, at least so far. (She’s assuming that the actual baby part will trump it, but, really. Adorable.)

“And, y’know, I have to pee anyway, so we might as well stop here.” Darcy smiles at Clint’s snort of disbelief, but he’s not entirely wrong. It is fairly stupid. He’s not entirely _right_ either--she’s at the point where she heads toward the bathroom whenever she thinks about it--but he gets them into the parking lot without further editorial comment. 

The place has tables and booths, of course, but the chairs are all unpadded and the booths are the ‘cozy’ kind. Neither one of them really works for Darcy these days, but by the time she makes it back from the Ladies (even just joking about peeing sets off a chain reaction that ends with her darling daughter-to-be kicking her right in the bladder--she’s _so_ Barton’s kid), Clint’s lounging against the window in one of the booths, with the table pushed as far as it’ll go against the opposite bench and an extra chair waiting out in the aisle so Darcy can put her feet up when she sits down. 

So sweet. It almost makes up for the _juice_ that he’s gone ahead and ordered for her.

Almost. 

“I’m starting to dream about coffee.” Darcy braces her hands against her lower back and tries to stretch out some of the pregnancy kinks. “Kona,” she sighs. “Overnighted from the plantation and ground seconds before the water hits it.”

“Jarvis has spoiled you so bad,” Clint laughs. Darcy waves airily. She agrees, but that’s no reason not to enjoy it while it lasts. “I figured you were in the eat-two-bites-of-ten-different-things mood, so I went ahead and ordered all the appetizers they had on the menu, and a burger to split.”

“You,” Darcy says, beaming at him, “are such a good guy, Barton.” Half the women in their childbirth class are semi-worried about what their husbands/partners really think about the weight they’ve gained, while Darcy has the guy who not only doesn’t give a shit, but who orders her eight plates of deep-fried heaven. 

“Yeah, maybe.” Clint’s got that closed-down look in his eyes again. Darcy’s been hoping it’d go away on its own but obviously that’s a no-go. 

“Are we back at the getting-married thing?” She could have been more tactful, but the baby-making has done a number on what little tact she possessed in the first place. Clint gives her that pre-verbal, yes-but-I’d-rather-not-actually-talk-about-it grunt, which is just too bad for him. “We’ve been over this, Barton, and I haven’t changed my mind. If the only reason we’re getting married is the kid, it’s a shitty reason that’s not gonna do her any favors.”

Darcy knows more than a few disasters masquerading as families that came into being for the same exact reason. She thinks she and Clint will probably make it legal at some point, but she'd really like it to happen in its own time, not under pressure. The waitress arrives then, her tray loaded down with all the stuff Clint knows Darcy well enough to order, and Darcy really fucking wishes he’d trust that he knows her in other ways, too. Trusting himself’s a thing with him, though, which Darcy knew going in, just like he knew Darcy’s thing about not being independent, not knowing she can take care of herself. 

“Look,” Darcy says after the waitress goes. “My parents weren’t married; yours were. Not to be a bitch, but seriously, doesn’t that say it all?”

Clint shrugs, but while he’s eating with one hand, the other is in a fist at the base of Darcy’s spine, pushing exactly right against the press of the baby. “It’s getting pretty hard to look Cap in the eye,” he finally admits.

“Okay, okay, it's a guy thing--I get that, but this, it’s about me, too. We should talk to him. Together, okay?” Darcy holds her breath, because she knows he likes to deal with things himself as much as she does, but then Clint nods and she leans back to give him a kiss. “Thank you.”

Steve, Darcy can handle. She’s got all the legal stuff they’ve drawn up, the medical PoAs and the stuff they’ll file after the kid arrives that makes sure Clint has full parental rights. She can get her mom on the job, too, because let’s be real, Darcy came by the stubborn honestly. And if none of that works, she won’t have a problem telling Steve it’s none of his business and to stand down.

“You gonna eat anything other than fried pickles here?” Clint manages a fairly impressive eyebrow arch, especially given they’ve just been poking at his issues. “I’m starting to worry what the kid’s bloodwork is gonna look like.”

“My name is on half that burger. Do not be thinking I’ve forgotten it.” Darcy pats what she’s pretty sure is the baby’s butt. “And the kid is gonna be awesome.”

“Yes, ma’am; whatever you say, ma’am.” Clint’s smirk is dead-on now and Darcy is happy to answer it.

**Author's Note:**

> Bonnie Raitt is still keeping me in titles for this series. Who knew?


End file.
